Preparing for Surgery
Surgery is a standard part of breast cancer treatment. Almost everyone diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer
has some surgery. Sometimes, people diagnosed with metastatic
breast cancer have surgery, too.
Surgery is effective, but the recovery that comes with it can be tough. Sensitive skin, fluid buildup in the surgery site, and sore, tight or painful muscles can all be part of recovery.
Watch the video to get tips from women who had surgery about how to prepare yourself and your home for recovery.
What to Expect
Recovery Resources
Learn more about the different types of surgery and making decisions about your surgery.
- Learn
- What is Breast Cancer?
- Signs and Symptoms
- Testing
- Types of Breast Cancer
- DCIS and LCIS
- Hormone Receptor-Positive
- HER2-Positive
- Triple-Negative
- Metastatic
- Diagnosis and Testing
- Bone Metastases
- Brain Metastases
- Liver Metastases
- Lung Metastases
- Treatments and Research
- Being in Treatment for Life
- Complementary and integrative medicine
- Goals of Treatment
- Making Treatment Decisions Throughout Your Care
- Clinical Trials for MBC
- Metastatic Trial Search
- Hormonal Therapy for MBC
- Targeted Therapy for MBC
- Chemotherapy For MBC
- Radiation Therapy for MBC
- Surgery for MBC
- Yoga and MBC
- Side Effects
- Bone Health and MBC
- Bone Pain and MBC
- Chemobrain
- Hair Loss and MBC
- Hand-Foot Syndrome and MBC
- Heart Health and MBC
- Insomnia and Fatigue and MBC
- Menopausal Symptoms and MBC
- Mouth Sores and MBC
- Nail and Skin Changes and MBC
- Nausea and Vomiting and MBC
- Neuropathy and MBC
- Neutropenia and MBC
- Pain and MBC
- Sexual Side Effects
- Sexual side effects
- Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer
- Stress and Anxiety
- Metastatic Breast Cancer & Diet
- Self-Care for Stress and Anxiety
- Coping With Stress in Relationships
- Exercise
- Fertility and Metastatic Breast Cancer
- Intimacy and Sexuality
- Anxiety & Depression
- Navigating Finances
- Understanding Health Insurance
- Work/Life Balance
- Money, Insurance & Career
- Feelings of Loss
- Building Your Community of Support
- Talking With Family
- How to support a loved one with MBC
- Inflammatory
- Lobular
- Treatments and Research
- Getting a Second Opinion
- Preparing for treatment
- Surgery
- Breast Reconstruction
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation Therapy
- Targeted Therapy
- Hormonal Therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Clinical Trials
- Biosimilars
- Complementary Therapy
- Yoga and Breast Cancer
- Side Effects
- Anemia
- Bone Loss
- Bone Pain
- Chemobrain
- Diarrhea
- Fear of Recurrence
- Fertility
- Hair Loss
- Hand-Foot Syndrome
- Heart Health
- High Cholesterol
- Insomnia and Fatigue
- Lymphedema
- Menopausal Symptoms
- Mouth Sores
- Nail and Skin Changes
- Nausea and Vomiting
- Neuropathy
- Neutropenia
- Pain
- Secondary Cancers
- Sexual Side Effects
- Weight Gain
- Weight Loss
- Living With Breast Cancer
- Body Image
- Bone Health Basics
- Diet, Nutrition and Exercise
- Emotional Health
- Fear of Recurrence
- Fertility and Breast Cancer
- Genetics and Family Risk
- Job and Financial Concerns
- Financial matters
- Breast Cancer and the Workplace
- Telling Employers and Coworkers About Your Diagnosis
- Work Accommodations and Disability Benefits
- Managing hidden costs
- Getting Organized for Health Insurance
- Private, State and Federal Insurance
- Understanding your health insurance
- Dealing With a Claim Denial
- Other Ways to Get Insurance
- Financial Planning
- What is the ACA?
- Sex and Intimacy
- Birth Control and Breast Cancer
- Maintaining Sexual Life
- If You Feel Pain During Sex
- Sexual Side Effects
- Body Image and Sexuality
- Improving Sexual Health With Medical Approaches
- Improving Sexual Health With Self Care
- Talking With Your Partner About Sex and Intimacy
- Talking With Your Healthcare Team About Sex and Intimacy
- Signs of Recurrence
- Survivorship Care Plans
- Learning from Others
- Additional Resources
- Get Support
- How You Can Help
- News & Opinion